


College Years

by out_there



Category: Sports Night
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-01
Updated: 2009-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-15 04:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/out_there/pseuds/out_there
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two men, four years of college.</p>
            </blockquote>





	College Years

In his first year of college, Casey broke the law.

It had been a simple prank pulled as an initiation to the fraternity. At the time, breaking into the sorority house across the road (to steal the girls' underwear) seemed like fun. Sitting in front of the judge, Casey wasn't so sure about the fun aspect of it.

He pulled at his shirt collar and looked over at his father's tense expression. He'd already been lectured about the idiocy of getting a police record and the stupidity of following the crowd. In fact, he'd received both lectures several times.

When the judge sentenced him to eighty hours community service, Casey couldn't have been more relieved.

***

In his first year of college, Dan broke the law.

It wasn't anything new. As far as he could see, the law against under-aged drinking was made to be broken.

His first year away from home and Dartmouth seemed farther away than he'd ever guessed. After the funereal silence of last summer, he hadn't expected to miss home half as much as he did. Of course, he also hadn't expected there to be so many on-campus parties.

Sometimes he drank just because he was homesick. Sometimes it was just because everyone else did it. But more often, it was because offering a girl a drink was an easy way to start a conversation.

***

In his second year of college, Casey met Lisa.

She had strawberry blonde hair that fell to her shoulders in soft waves and had the type of figure that would make any red-blooded man sit up and pay attention. She was casually gorgeous and her eyes were the most entrancing mixture of blue, green and grey that he'd ever seen.

He met her at the library, both of them scanning the shelves for the same legal text. He needed to read it for the introductory law class, compulsory for any journalism major. She needed it to check the citation in her essay for advanced contract law.

There was only one copy left on the shelf, so he let her have it. She took it with a charming smile that turned him mute.

"I only need a couple pages," she said, and he swallowed past a suddenly dry throat.

"Okay," Casey said, focusing on the way her hands wrapped around the book. She had small hands with short, practical nails that shined under the harsh lighting.

"If you're staying around, I'll copy it and bring it back to you," she offered as she tilted her head to the side and started to rustle through the pages.

"I'll stick around." He gestured lamely to the study desks along the wall.

"Good," she said, and smiled at him again.

He grinned back. "Good."

She returned the book ten minutes later, letting it drop on his desk with a muffled thud. "I have to go," she said, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder. "But I'll see you around."

"Sure." He nodded back at her and said awkwardly, "I'll see you."

He watched her leave with a vague feeling of disappointment. His eyes followed the sway of her hips and the swish of her skirt until she was out of sight, and then he turned his attention to the textbook.

Opening it, he found she'd left a photocopied page behind. After a second of confusion, he smiled and stood up. He was about to run after her and return it, but stopped when he turned it over. In clear, slanted handwriting, she'd written her name and number.

Grinning to himself, Casey carefully tore it and tucked the slip of paper away in his wallet.

* * *

In his second year of college, Dan met Casey.

Dan was seeing a hot sophomore called Mindy at the time and had gone to her older cousin's party with her. They were standing in the middle of the lounge as her cousin, Tina, flittered around the room making quick introductions.

"This is Lisa's fiancé," Tina said to Mindy, before suddenly disappearing to another small group of people.

The guy in his mid-twenties nodded and smiled. "Casey," he added, leaning back with his hands in his pockets.

He was dressed in jeans, with a leather belt, and his plaid shirt was ironed and tucked in. His haircut reminded Dan of elementary school photos. He wore the kind of metal-rimmed glasses that seemed made for durability rather than style and his black shoes shined. If Dan allowed his mom to dress him, he'd look like Casey.

"Mindy," Mindy introduced herself with a giggle. She was that kind of girl. Bouncy and giggly; lots of fun in bed. She was the type of girl that seemed far more suited to cheerleading than to her engineering degree.

"And you're Mork?" Casey asked with a grin. The "Mork and Mindy" jokes were why Dan doubted they would ever get serious.

Dan held his hand out and said, "Actually, it's Daniel."

"Run Away Dan?" Casey asked as he shook Dan's hand.

"Hit-and-run Danny," Mindy corrected with a laugh, and Dan wished that nickname hadn't followed him to college. He didn't bother asking how Casey knew of him.

"Oh, right," Casey said with a half-smile. "Do you run?"

Dan blinked. "What?"

"The nickname. Do you run track?" Casey asked, finishing his beer.

"No. I muck around, but I don't really play," Dan explained. That wasn't something he was usually asked. "If the team's a man short, I'll help out. But generally, I'd rather report it than do it."

Casey nodded in understanding. "Yeah. Every kid wants to be a sports star. Then we grow up and realize if you can't be one, reporting is the next best thing."

His dad would have said the same thing. The reason you do sports journalism is because you're not good enough to play. Dan could taste the bile rising in the back of his throat but he forced his grin just a little wider. "And it means you get a good view of the action," Dan joked, and heard Casey laugh as Mindy giggled loudly. "I'm going to grab a drink."

"Get me one too?" Mindy asked with a toss of her head.

"Sure," he said and turned to Casey. "Do you want a beer, man?"

"Nah," Casey replied casually, but shot a slightly nervous glance at Mindy. Mindy started prattling on about something and Dan made his escape across the crowded room.

He stopped at the bathroom, just to get a minute alone to breathe.

Making his way back with drinks in hand, he sent a brief prayer of thanks for guys like Casey. If that was his competition, it was easy to see why Dan scored the cheerleader types.

***

In his third year of college, Casey slept with Lisa.

During that year, he also kissed one of her friends.

After dating for eight months, he and Lisa broke up. Her friend, Dana, was kooky and funny, and had been forced to play interpreter between them. When he called twelve times to speak to Lisa, Dana had been the one who had to answer the phone and tell him Lisa didn't want to see him. When he knocked on the door to finally apologize, Dana was the one who answered it and told him that Lisa was out on a date.

He'd been crushed, and Dana had offered to go for a drink with him. They'd spent the night talking about anything other than Lisa, talking about television, journalism and sports. At the end of the night, he walked her home and was drunk enough to kiss her.

Dana had pulled back and said that she couldn't do that to Lisa.

When he and Lisa got back together three weeks later, he found out that Lisa hadn't been out on a date. She just hadn't wanted to see him.

***

In his third year of college, Dan slept with Becky, Laura, Sandy, Anna, Imogene, Rachel, Louise, Cathy, Elsie, Hope, Christine, Elizabeth, Mary, Allison and Laura again.

He found that offering a girl a drink was still the easiest opening line, but making them laugh was even more effective.

He was always at his best one on one. If he could get fifteen minutes alone with her, he could convince her that he was a fun, attractive guy, that he was the type of guy that she wanted to sleep with.

He never quite mastered the art of convincing a girl that he was the type of guy she wanted to date seriously.

***

In his last year of college, Casey moved off campus.

He moved out of his fraternity, and Lisa moved out of her sorority, and together, they got a cheap apartment close to the university. It was a one bedroom apartment, small and a bit grimy. The bedroom barely had space enough for both them and their school books. They solved that by moving the TV into the bedroom, and turning the living room into a study for both of them.

They had one car between them, and he'd stay back to drive her home. They'd come in and study, both concentrating on their last year. One of them would cook and together they'd climb into bed, switch on the TV and eat their dinner wrapped up under blankets.

They'd leave the dishes sitting in the sink until morning and would start to watch a movie. They'd start making out during the commercials but always managed to get too distracted and switched the TV off halfway through.

For months, Casey never saw the end of a film. It wasn't something he ever complained about.

***

In his last year of college, Dan moved off campus.

Casey had got him a summer job at the local TV station where he worked. By the start of the new academic year, it turned into a part-time job. It wasn't particularly well paid, but it was enough that he no longer needed the allowance his father sent him. It was enough that he and a couple friends could afford to move off-campus and find their own run-down place.

The job wasn't glamorous. It mainly consisted of photocopying, filing and running around finding things for people. However, it was good experience and he got to watch them film in the studio.

He filled in for missing people and learned basic things, like how to hold a camera steady. A couple of times he even got to trail after Casey, filming as Casey introduced the newest member of the local football team, or rattled off the scores from Monday's game.

Occasionally, his roommates would drive Dan crazy, and then it was also somewhere to hide. He could always go in early, or stay back late. There was always something to do and someone around. Most of the time, he ended up sitting in the editing room with Casey, talking about whatever sport Casey was currently reporting.

At the end of that year, Casey urged him to apply for the extremely junior reporter job that had opened up. Casey had helped him with the application and together, they wrote the mock script. Seeing Casey's encouraging smile, Dan grinned at the camera and knew this would be his best memory from college.  



End file.
